Do You Trust Leaving Your Car At A Garage?

[BluePixel]

I'm only asking this as I've seen it happen a couple of times from different garages where the mechanics have taken a customers car out to test drive after getting work done but have abused the **** out of it.

I've seen a mechanic hand brake turn someone's M5 into the work shop and the other day I saw 2 mechanics racing up and down a 30mph stretch of road wheel spinning and doing hand brakes turns in what I presume is someone's car that they're suppose to be doing work on.

Is this really a common occurrence and has anyone else personally seen this happen?

[Goodkat]

Years ago, there may have been an instance when a family member of mine worked for a tyre fitting outfit, and had a nearly brand new mondeo in. He was told to go to the shop, and grab the keys of any car he chose. He took the mondeo, reversed around a corner and totalled a Citroen AX. The customer wasn't overly happy when he came back to find not only had his car been taken out, but was subect to having a new rear bumper and a few days in a body shop.

As for my car, if it was one of my older cars, then meh. I wasn't bothered if they gave it a spin. The Focus though, well, I am looking for a new trusty mechanic. The mechanic I normally use has been rumoured to hoon around in customers' cars and I am reluctant to let him in the Focus. Apparently he took my brother's old 7 series for a hoon without permission, he was quite annoyed by it.

Anyone know any trusty mechanics in the Swindon area?

[Ianb]

To be totally honest, I'm not sure how 'common' it is, but it DOES happen... James caught a guy doing it in his mondeo because he had a dashcam fitted, I'm not sure what the latest on this is, but there is/was a police investigation into it...but anyway, James is becoming a Vauxhall fan now... :p

But to answer your questions directly:

No, I don't trust leaving my car at the garage, particularly because you're not watching them work, so how can you prove that they didn't take 5 hours putting the windscreen washer cap back on...

And no, I don't think them taking cars for a jolly is a particularly common occurrence, but then lets face it, I drive a 1.6 tdci estate, they're not exactly going to break any speed records driving it... but if you worked in a garage and a Lambo came in, would you want to at least drive it up and down the road a bit just to 'check' everythings ok?

[Celticfan]

The garage I use is one where it's a family business. They are car mad (in a good way)and I trust them completely. Not too sure I would trust my car would be as cared for if I was daft enough to leave it at a stealership

[BluePixel]

The car I saw the other day was pretty old, pre-2000, and not fast but it didn't stop them abusing the **** out of it.

[jeebowhite]

IanB dont make me hand out warning points for abusing a moderator and suggesting they like the vauxhall - I seriously dont :p

Heres my story... long story short police investigations are still ongoing!

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/58471-an-update-would-be-nice-oh-and-not-joyriding-my-car/

[Marks12]

Yeah to some extent I do like yeah I realize they have to take ur car out after the repair is done too see if its fixed or if something else is causing a new problem my mechanic when I left it in last time said he would have to drive it to navan to have an expert at electronics look at it he was honest about it which is why I like him

[Phil 87]

I haven't worried about this before but maybe I should, especially with an ST which would be very tempting for anyone to take for a spin. I have a dashcam but anyone with sense would disconnect it. I could hide it in the back to spy on the garage without them knowing

[jeebowhite]

Haha, the sad truth is they could bypass it by unplugging but if they did I would be round there like a shark asking why!

[TomsFocus]

I've done work experience at a couple of main dealers (Honda and Ford) and didn't see any abuse tbh...but still, I don't trust anyone, I always stay with the car if it has to go in for anything....I'm the annoying guy that stays to watch haha. Only time I don't is the local garage...as I can see it from my house lol.

Though I'll always remember the first road test I was taken on at Honda, was a newish (at the time) Honda S2000....owned by an old guy that done very few miles and wouldn't drive it hard enough to keep it clear, he'd complained that it was getting unresponsive/hesitant. After a service the tech and I went for a good, hard drive on a B road test route to clear it out, nothing illegal, and certainly no ragging or handbrake turns lol, but it is sometimes necessary for the techs to take cars for a hard drive if the owners wont!

[Figgis41]

I use to use a local garage for the servicing and MOT of my C4 Citroen before i got rid,,,, all was fine for a number of years but i had to have a head gasket change as the engine on the 1.4 petrol had an aluminuam head which proved faulty,,, anyway i took it in for them to do it and it took them 2 weeks, said the parts were slow coming but its because they were busy.
so the day came for me to pick it up, and as a mater of corse i take out all my stuff in the car and the boot including a britool socket set and a Facom rachet combination spanner set that i always keep in the car.

now being an engineer i have diferent sets of tools and those 2 were spacifically kept in the car just incase, i forgot to take them out and when i was inspecting the car in the garage i looked in the boot, the socket set was there but the spanner set had gone.

I pointed this out to the owner who then asked what i wanted him to do about it and he trusted his staff and i must be mistaken.

I told him i was not mistaken as those tools belonged to the car so to speak and i have other tools for other things, and i can name every tool i have and where they are at all times, probably just like he could.
I told him i would not be going back and i would warn everyone else i knew that used his garage, i told him he needed to find the thief quickly or he would lose customers.
About a month later a friend who took his car there had something nicked aswell and complained to the owner,, the owner admited to him that someone who worked for him was stealing and he was trying to catch him.

I went back and confronted the owner who also admited i was right and said it was happening a lot and he was losing coustomers left and right.
he said he was sorry,,, i told him to ram it and walked out laughing.

He was not too bothered when he didnt have to fork out for a new spanner set for me ,,, this is probably why,, this is the set i had.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0051ABE6I/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2/279-5568529-3387628?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_r=1SG2EYRPXQR47S0CFRFV&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=479289247&pf_rd_i=B003PSINDK

[Figgis41]

on another note,,, when i was looking round for my next car a couple of years back i was taking a troll round all the local dealers, luckly there mostly plonked on a big trading estate on the way in to Hull, Vaux, Citroen, Ford, VW, Volvo, Seat, Infinity and a load more on Priory Trading estate.

I was looking for a medium sized hatch,, had my C4 with only 14k miles from new on it on a 55 plate to trade in and big lump of cashola and had gone online and narrowed it down to 5 cars.

In that 5 were a Leon, Focus, Golf all of which were on this estate, as i was driving round to all the dealers i kept seing this Leon Cupra in black bombing around the estate as though it was taking part in a rally with 2 blokes sat in it.

As i was aproaching the Seat dealers this cupra shot past and the bloke driving hand break turned it in to a gap and they both got out,,, they walked in to the dealership and the mechanic handed the keys to the other bloke who i had down as a sales man.

I was having a mooch around when this other lad walked in and started to talk to the racer sales man, who handed him some keys and spoke to him for a while as he signed the paper work for the service he had had done on the cupra. oh dear.

As i was looking this sales man aproached me as the cupra fella had done one, and asked if he could help, we were quite near a car by the sales desks with his gaffer sat there,,,, i said yes i was intrested in a new Leon but having watched how he and Ari Vaternen had ragged that prevoius customers car around the trading estate for half an hour, and ending in cutting me up and preforming the handbreak turn parking maneuver that i was going to go else where as i wouldnt like you to be doing that kind of crap in my car,,, he went rather red and his boss was glaring at him.
it was rather funny as i walked away.

[Phil 87]

Haha, the sad truth is they could bypass it by unplugging but if they did I would be round there like a shark asking why!

That's true, so I'll have to plug it into the connector behind the arm rest and attach it to the rear window, they'll never see it lol.

I suppose I'd technically need their permission to film with a dashcam on their premises, but my excuse would be that the camera films automatically, it doesn't know how to ask for permission.

[jeebowhite]

No permission needed. Cctv in your own vehicle for the purposes of crime prevention, detection and fraud prevention does not require any permission. If something has been filmed that shouldn't have they have every right to request you remove this footage but it's not your problem. At the end of the day if it's not a spy camera used to entrap, it's visible from the outside then it's tour own risk as a business.

As for the lean sale, that is just ridiculous! Sadly we can't get dash-cam installed from day one room taking the keys so it's a trust basis.

[Phil 87]

Sadly we can't get dash-cam installed from day one room taking the keys so it's a trust basis.

Yeah it's a shame you can't get a dashcam as an optional extra, maybe you can in some cars but I don't know. I think car manufacturers are missing a trick here, they could build in a dashcam equivalent to a Mobius or other cheap camera very cheaply and charge something silly like £300 for it, and people would pay it.

[Figgis41]

Wow,,, i have just read Jeeb's other thread about what happened to his car,,,,, its totally unbelievable, i dont know how you kept so calm but well done to you for doing so.
I wonder why the garage owner has changed his tune ?
Cant be because he cannot dismis the driver, he has grounds to dismis on gross misconduct so the driver cant get him on a tribunal as gross misconduct is a streight sackable offence.
So why the change of heart and the risk to himself and his buisness, this seems odd to say the least,,, i wonder if he is a relative ?
ask the police to check this out as the owner could also be done for perjuring himself,,, and if this is pointed out to him by the police he might see sense and cut the driver lose and let him face the music without him.

just a thought and good luck,,

oh and as an aside, has anyone thought of starting an in car camera thread,,, best devices, how to use and fit etc ?

[jeebowhite]

Already started similar threads myself and Kurt I believe started a thread each of a review for our own camera. I also started a thread where you can look at different reviews for different products but it's a work in progress.

As for the change of tune, he was hoping I bet that I either wouldn't push a prosecution, or the police would hear he's been sacked and walk away. He clearly is talking out of his jacksie that much is sure.

[Figgis41]

I can see what your saying,,, but the prosocution would not affect him, just a little bad publicity maybe, so why then get yourself involved to the point of lieing.
I think there's someting else here,,, ie he's related or the owner is already somehow involved in what happened ?

i'll have a look for those threads as i was looking for an in car cam and had already narrowed it down to a couple, but the more info the better. :)

[jeebowhite]

Good question and we might find out one day...

[Phil 87]

oh and as an aside, has anyone thought of starting an in car camera thread,,, best devices, how to use and fit etc ?

Here's the thread about the Mobius dashcam which I have: http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/52271-my-new-mobius-dashcam/

It's a good camera to start with, just over £40 for good quality 1080p.

[TomsFocus]

Good idea about factory fit dashcams tbh!

I want one but don't like the idea of having something extra stuck on the window. If it was factory fitted and just looked like an extra rain sensor from outside that'd be much tidier.

[Figgis41]

Thanks for the link Phil,,, its a lot smaller than the one i have been considering,,,, if i get one then im thinking of taking it to a garage i use and asking them to wire it up so its always on when the car starts and i dont have wires dangeling down.
This one in your link looks really good and will mount near the rear view mirror.

Cheers,, Ian.

[jeebowhite]

The Mobius is good, you can add a separate lens, hide the body out of sight and just attach the lens to the windscreen out of date.

[FocusSmudge]

Not strictly a garage, but I scratched the side of my now sold Hatchback on the garage wall some time ago so took it to a local recommended bodyshop.

I had detailed the car just days before, so knew it was swirl mark and scratch free (other than the damage ofcourse) - on collection of the car, it was covered in heavy swirls and water spots. Whilst they did a decent job on the repair, I later discovered the chap who washes the vehicles throws a bucket of water over, then cleans the grime off with a dirty foam sponge and doesn't bother drying. I did however notice the mileage had increased so it's possible it was put through an automated car wash.

Either way, next time, the car will be washed beforehand by me and I'll expressly ask for the vehicle not to be washed.

[theduke]

A friend of mine took his clio v6 in for a service....they told him he needs a new gearbox too turns out his tracker proved it had been for spirited test drive and he didnt pay a penny that was a dealership

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